This book originated from a series of papers which were published in
"Die Naturwissenschaften" in 1977178. Its division into three parts is
the reflection of a logic structure, which may be abstracted in the form
of three theses: A. Hypercycles are a principle of natural
selforganization allowing an inte- gration and coherent evolution of a
set of functionally coupled self-rep- licative entities. B. Hypercycles
are a novel class of nonlinear reaction networks with unique properties,
amenable to a unified mathematical treatment. C. Hypercycles are able to
originate in the mutant distribution of a single Darwinian quasi-species
through stabilization of its diverging mutant genes. Once nucleated
hypercycles evolve to higher complexity by a process analogous to gene
duplication and specialization. In order to outline the meaning of the
first statement we may refer to another principle of material
selforganization, namely to Darwin's principle of natural selection.
This principle as we see it today represents the only understood means
for creating information, be it the blue print for a complex living
organism which evolved from less complex ancestral forms, or be it a
meaningful sequence of letters the selection of which can be simulated
by evolutionary model games.
